Justice League of Amazons: The Unplanned Variable
A DC Comics/Outer Worlds crossover
Summary: In an alternative universe, the renegade Amazon Aresia succeeded in her plan to wipe out all men on earth and has thus doomed mankind to a slow extinction, and a newly reformed Justice League comprised of female heroes must pick up the pieces and find some way to save mankind. But a rip in the fabric of reality brings forth an unplanned variable; a man from another universe, a distant space colony, whom appears to be immune to Aresia's virus. With this unplanned variable in the equation, factions from within and outside of Earth seek to wrest control and gain the allegiance of this man, but will his actions be for good or ill?
…
Chapter 1
Aboard the Justice League Watchtower above Earth in space. February 2013.
Diana, the Princess of Themyscira, home of the Amazons, also known as the heroine Wonder Woman, founding member of the Justice League, stood in the observation room, looking through the tempered vacuum sealed ten-inch-thick glass window at planet Earth below. Silent tears poured down Diana's cheeks as the events that had only recently happened played through her mind.
What were the events that happened, you ask?
Aresia, Diana's sister by adoption and an orphan from a war that had killed her family and was raised as an Amazon, had decided that, in accordance to Amazon beliefs and teachings, for all women to be free, every man on Earth must be removed. During her final trial which she spent in an isolated tower in solitude, Aresia had studied books on biology, chemistry, magic, and germ warfare. Then after recruiting some criminals with promises of easy money, power and dominion over the world, Aresia gathered the supplies she needed to create a virus with the intention of killing every male person on the planet. The first test subjects were the male members of Aresia's impromptu Injustice Gang who quickly succumbed to the virus and died.
And like a snowball rolling down a snowy mountainside, the virus grew bigger and affected every male person, until it rapidly spread across the globe. Even the male members of the Justice League, Superman, Batman, Flash, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter, were affected by the virus and succumbed to it. And worse still, the virus did not spare anyone, including teenagers and children, even unborn babies died in the wombs of their mothers, leaving those women with the horror of a stillborn child.
Try as they might, Diana, Shayera and Diana's mother and queen, Hippolyta, had tried their best to stop Aresia. Even when Hippolyta revealed to Aresia the truth of how the ship captain, a man, had been the one to rescue her and brought her to the safety of Themyscira, even though it cost him his life to do so, Aresia remained obstinate and unrepentant.
The world had descended into chaos from there as the male population of Earth rapidly succumbed to Aresia's virus in what could simply & best be described as gender genocide, all in a warped belief of freeing women from the corruption of men everywhere according to the Amazon teachings.
Diana felt disgust and shame, at herself and the very beliefs she longed believed in and held pride in. She was disgusted that she had not done anything sooner to stop Aresia from unleashing her virus on the world, and she was ashamed that the Amazon beliefs were the root of this terrible and senseless tragedy. When she first arrived in Man's World, she had her initial prejudices against men, but she quickly learnt that while there were many men who validated Amazon teachings, she saw that many women were just as bad, if not worse than the male gender in some cases. Diana had also learned that despite the apparent corruption in men's hearts, there was just as much good in them, if not more so; the men of the Justice League were prime examples of such innate goodness.
Diana's thoughts then drifted to her now deceased teammates; Superman was the leader of them, who inspired hope and courage in everyone around him and encouraged people to be their best, no matter how small and insignificant their deeds may be. Batman was the foil to Superman, providing realism and pragmatism with his vast experience and had astounded Diana at just how skilled and determined a mortal man could be in the face of insurmountable odds against practically godlike beings. Flash, although he could be immature and prone to rash thinking and actions, he was the heart and soul of the team and was what kept them all grounded and human. Diana had often thought to herself that if she ever had a little brother, Flash would be a perfect fit for the role.
Green Lantern, although their first impression of each other wasn't exactly stellar by any means, there was clear respect and admiration between them, and Diana had respected the man's sheer willpower and dedication to the job. And Martian Manhunter she felt some kinship towards as they were both outsiders in a world that was unfamiliar to them, and there was deep familiarity with each other as they both learned to live in the new world they had found themselves in.
These men, they were heroes in every sense of the word, what men should truly be, and now they were all dead because of Aresia's deeply misguided interpretation of the Amazon Way. What was the message in that? Where was the justice in it? To answer it simply; there was no justice to it, whatsoever. They had died because of one Amazon's warped understanding of the Amazon Way.
The door to the observation deck opened and Shayera walked towards Diana. "Diana? Are you okay?" the Thanagarian woman asked the Amazon who nodded shakily in response. "The others are already here," Shayera then said. "So, if you're ready, we can get the meeting underway," she added gently.
"But, what if…?" Diana tried to say when Shayera gently cut her off. "I've already spoken with them. They don't harbor any grudge or resentment against you for what Aresia has done. They're giving you the benefit of the doubt," she explained.
Diana nodded slowly and wiped away the tears staining her cheeks. The pair then left the observation deck and headed towards the conference room where a group of women were waiting for them.
It turned out that Batman had a series of contingency plans set in place should any member of the League be unable to fulfill their duties, and there were even plans to expand the Justice League roster. Given the fact that many costumed crime fighters around the world were male and had succumbed to the virus, that left only the female heroes left, but there was still a good number of them.
From Gotham City, there was Batgirl, Huntress, Black Canary and Zatanna. From Metropolis there was Superman's cousins, Supergirl and Power Girl. From New York, there was Vixen and Stargirl. From Brazil and Norway, there was Fire and Ice respectively. From Japan, there was Katana and Doctor Light. Each of these women were proven heroes and dedicated to the mission; they each had special skillsets and abilities, be it martial arts and acrobatics, or powers of flight and superhuman strength, or even specialised equipment that granted them greater capabilities in combat or forensic investigation.
As Diana entered the room, some of the new heroes stiffened up slightly, but they relaxed quickly. They did not hold any ill will towards Diana, but there was still some apprehension towards her.
Shayera quickly called the meeting to order. "Welcome to you all. Please take a seat," she said firmly, and everyone did so. Pressing some buttons at the computer console, Shayera brought up a holographic display of Earth along with some statistics.
"A few hours ago, Aresia, a renegade Amazon of Themyscira, unleashed a bio-weapon with the intention of eliminating all men on Earth," Shayera started and there was some dark mutterings and grimaces on nearly everyone present, but Shayera ignored them and pressed on. "Aresia succeeded in her plans, but what she failed to realise, or more likely, refused to acknowledge was that men were necessary to continue the human race through procreation with women," the Thanagarian said.
"With the current fallout of what has happened, the state of the world has descended into anarchy with much of the law enforcement agencies around the world being severely depleted of manpower."
Shayera then looked at each person in the room before saying, "Now, it falls to us to continue the work the Justice League has set out to do and bring order to the world and find a way to prevent humanity from falling into extinction," she said sternly.
"How are we going to do that?" Kara AKA Supergirl asked. "Every man on Earth has died to the virus, as you just said. So, what can we do to make sure humanity survives?" she said.
"We'll find a way," Shayera then said confidently. "In my time knowing the human race, I've found they're extraordinarily resilient; capable of overcoming any obstacle placed in front of them," she added with a look of admiration in her emerald eyes.
"Humanity will survive this," the Thanagarian woman declared. "And while I don't put much stock into matters of faith, Green Lantern once told me that sometimes you have to have a little faith that things will turn out for the best," she said with a look of sad nostalgic fondness in her eyes.
Hawkgirl then looked at everyone and said, "I know this is a lot to take in, and I know this will be incredibly daunting. So, if for any reason, anyone here wants to back out right now, I will not stop whoever wishes to."
For a long agonising moment, everyone looked at each and there was a silent non-verbal consensus that no-one was going to back out from this. If anyone did feel like it was too much for them to handle, then there would be no hard feelings.
But a common thought among the newest members of the Justice League was that they couldn't back out. It would not only be a disservice to the deceased members and founders of the Justice League, but it would go against everything the Justice League stood and what each of them personally believed in.
Shayera looked at everyone and saw that no-one was getting up to leave. "I see we are all of the same mind," she remarked with approval in her eyes.
"So, what do we do?" Helena AKA Huntress asked getting right to the matter. "Where do we go? And who's going with who?" she then asked.
Shayera nodded in approval of the Italian-American brunette's blunt attitude at getting to the heart of the matter, and she then began to lay out plans of what to do, who was going where and who they were going with.
When the plans were made, everyone then prepared to head to the hangar and headed down to Earth to begin their mission of bringing order to the anarchy that currently gripped Earth.
…
Gotham City, the Narrows, February 2013.
In the poorest part of Gotham, the scene was tantamount to anarchic mayhem as female police officers desperately tried to quell the rioting as those that lived in the Narrows, fuelled by desperation, ransacked anything and everything in desperate bids for supplies and goods.
Whether it was the basic necessities such as food, water and medicine, or items of monetary worth such as gold, jewellery or simply cash money, anything that wasn't nailed was looted. Women fought like wild dogs would over scraps of food, and police officers were hard pressed not to use lethal force.
Seated high on a building ledge looking down at the anarchy below, three women stood and watched. The first was clad in skin-tight black leather and spandex with a cowl covering her head with pointed ears atop the headpiece giving the appearance of a feline. The second was something akin to a court jester clad in red & black with white make-up on her face and a manic gleeful smile on her ruby lips. The third was a beautiful woman wearing something akin to leaves, plants and vines that barely covered her modesty with deep red hair and green tinted skin.
The jester girl giggled and said, "Look at 'em! You'd think they'd have all put aside their differences and work things out like normal people."
"You'd think," the dark-clad woman sniffed disdainfully. "But, given what's happened with all the men in the world dying to a virus, I'm not too surprised," she said dryly.
"I'm certainly not complaining about all this," the red-haired woman said as she languished in her seat. "When have humans ever acted in anything other than their own self-interests?" she added.
"Still, hard to believe that all men are now," the black-clad woman said, her tone unreadable.
"Yeah…" the harlequin woman said sadly. "My Puddin's gone…" She sniffled like a child about to cry after having her favourite toy taken away.
"Seriously, Harley? After everything that… man ever did to you? You'd still weep for him?" the redhead asked coldly.
"You wouldn't get it," Harley said dismissively as tears appeared in the corners of her eyes.
"No. I suppose I wouldn't," the redhead said dryly before looking back at the chaotic scene. "Still, can't deny this presents a choice opportunity," she added slyly.
"What are you talking, Pamela?" the dark-clad woman asked.
"Think about it, Selina. All the men on earth are dead. Whatever's left of the police are in shambles now, the world is now our oyster, to use the vernacular loosely," Pamela said with a wicked smile on her lips.
"Yeah! Red's right! No men around telling us what ta do anymore!" Harley said eagerly. "We can do whatever we want!" she stated boldly.
"I imagine we could," Selina said in apparent agreement. "But we still have capes and heroes of the female persuasion to worry about," she pointed out.
"True, but they'll be too busy dealing with the mess that Wonder Woman's sister dealt to the world to take the time to deal with us," Pamela replied. Standing up from her seat, Pamela looked at her two companions and said to them, "C'mon, ladies. Time to paint the town red!"
…
In another universe…
Hurtling through the near labyrinthian asteroid field that hovered near the planet Terra-2, the starship known by the moniker the Unreliable easily weaved in and out through the floating space rocks. Soon the ship came towards a particularly large asteroid that had been hollowed out and looked to be fitted with the makings of some kind of scientific facility/abode.
In the cockpit of the ship a lone figure stood. Wearing advanced looking power armour and heavily armed, the figure seemed to wait as the ship docked in the harbour of the facility. Then on the computer display screen, the profile of a woman coloured in shades of orange, red and yellow spoke in a clearly synthetic sounding voice.
"We have now arrived at Phineas' oribital lab," said the voice.
"Good," came the calm stoic voice from the figure. The voice was a calm baritone and clearly belonged to a man. Entering the cockpit was a relatively young woman with stylish cut brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a mixture of leather and cloth with a stylish white jacket that had clearly been distressed intentionally.
With an easy grin on her full lips, the woman spoke to the armoured man. "So, what's the old coot got cooking for us this time? I would've thought he'd too busy trying to help the colony rebuild after we brought down the Board," she said.
"He didn't say too much in his missive, but he said that he's working on something important," the armoured man replied as he prepared to leave the cockpit and exit the ship.
The other crew members of the Unreliable came out to greet the man who was their captain. A young man with messy dark hair and stubble on his jaw said, "You think the Doc's cooked up some kind of new toy for us to play with?" An eager look was in his brown eyes as he said this.
Then an older gentleman wearing navy blue robes said, "Considering what Doctor Welles creates in his lab, I'd be surprised if whatever new invention of his didn't do something utterly ridiculous."
A dark-skinned woman with frizzy hair dyed a vibrant magenta colour spoke. "So long as the Doc has something good we can make use of, then I'm happy for it," she said.
A tan skinned young woman with a topknot of curly brown hair asked the captain, "Do you know why Doctor Welles has asked us here?"
"He didn't say," the Captain replied. "But he did mention it was something to do with finding a way to Earth," he said.
"Finding a way to Earth? Really?" the white jacketed woman asked disbelievingly. "Hasn't Earth gone dark on us?" she added.
The Captain didn't answer this question before he disembarked from the ship saying over his shoulder, "I should be done soon. Wait for me here. I won't be long." The blast door closed behind the Captain as he made his way down the ramps, heading for Doctor Welles' main laboratory.
Then an aged voice then announced itself over the comms. "Ah! Captain! You got my message, then? Excellent! I'm in my lab at the moment, I think I've made a breakthrough!"
The Captain then hurried his pace and made his way into the laboratory where situated outside the bullet-proof glass of his testing room was the aged and wizened but still spry form of Doctor Phineas Welles, once the Board's Most Wanted criminal in the Halcyon Colony.
Hearing the Captain's footsteps, Phineas turned his head to look at the man and smiled. "You're here. Good. I was just going over the final touches," he said as he turned back around to fiddle with something on a bench.
"You said something about finding a way back to Earth in your missive to me," the Captain said to the scientist. "I hope you haven't brought me here to bring me bad news," he added warningly.
"Far from it, my friend," Phineas said without looking over his shoulder. "I know that as the new Chairman of the Board, you're an undoubtedly busy man trying to repair the damage Rockwell did to this colony," he added.
"Yeah, that's one way of putting it," the Captain said as he lifted his helmet off from his shoulders to reveal a dark haired yet striking handsome man with an anvil like jaw and piercing blue eyes. "Even with the Hope's colonists helping out, it's a slog getting through day-to-day operations and board meetings," he stated.
"I know, my old friend. I know," Phineas said softly as he looked at Captain Adam of the Unreliable. It had been nearly three years ago to this day when Phineas stole aboard the Hope colonist ship and revived the sleeping Adam from cryostasis, with the intention of using the man's skills and unaffiliating connection to any of the corporations that had been driving the Halcyon colony to the ground.
Phineas couldn't have been prouder of the Captain, as Adam had come to be called throughout the colonies of Halcyon, as the former sous chef found ways to bring people together and bring peaceful resolutions to the warring factions of Halcyon. It wasn't without its ups or downs as some individuals in various factions refused to see reason, but Adam had a remarkably charismatic silver-tongue; failing that, a quick firefight involving guns, bullets and sharp pointy objects resolved the negotiations.
And Captain Adam also had a set of moral and ethical principles that set him apart from many other freelancers of the colony. Even when offered a substantial amount of Bits from the Board to act as their personal grim reaper, Adam had refused and subsequently wiped the heads of the Board from the equation and took control of the colony, reviving his fellow colonists from decades long hibernation aboard the Hope.
And it didn't stop there; when contacted by one Wilhelmina Ambrose to investigate the supposedly abandoned Spacer's Choice laboratory of the Gorgon Asteroid, Adam had discovered the source of the marauder problem that had plagued Halcyon for years. After learning the sad story of Wilhelmina and her mother Olivia Ambrose, Adam, using his silver-tongue, convinced the estranged parent and child to work together to cure the effects of Adrena-Time that had created the marauder plague.
Adam had even gone on to uncover the murder of Halcyon Helen's actress on Eridanos and discovered that the CEO had entered an alliance with a parasitic alien race to use their new line of Spectrum Vodka to infect the Halcyon colony with parasitic worms that induced a violent form of blissful mania.
Phineas had chosen well and was proud of Adam's numerous accomplishments. Now it looked like the Colony of Halcyon had a fighting chance of surviving. But even so, the fact that Earth had gone dark for decades was a worrying thought. Which was why Phineas had been working on a way to reach Earth.
Of course, one could ask why not send a starship to Earth and find out what had happened, but the journey would take at the very least a decade to successfully reach the Cradle of Mankind, and the last ship bound for Earth hadn't been heard from.
So Phineas had been doing some experiments on ways that would take a fraction of the time to reach Earth and find out what happened.
"So, would you mind telling me what this idea of yours is to reach Earth?" Adam then asked the former outlaw scientist who turned around to face him fully.
"I've been running the calculations and looking into theories of space travel," the aged man began. "With some help from the colonists of the Hope, I've been working on a method that will allow us to travel to Earth in an instant," he said with a smile.
"And what is this method? I though it takes a decade to reach Earth by starship," Adam said sceptically.
"Indeed, it does," Phineas confirmed, not even denying it. "But tell me, Captain, what do you know of wormholes?" he enquired.
"About as much as the next man," Adam said slowly. "Supposedly, according to space-time theorists, a wormhole can lead you to another part of the universe," he added.
"Exactly! Which is why I have the idea of using a wormhole to open a pathway to Earth that we can then travel through and find out just what happened to Earth," Phineas said in rising excitement.
Adam had a sceptical look on his face as he replied, "And just how do you plan on doing that? Do you know of a wormhole nearby that we can use?"
"Even better. We're going to create one!" Phineas declared.
"How?" Adam asked in disbelief.
"This!" Phineas then revealed the device he was working on. It was a clunky looking thing; it vaguely resembled an aetherwave projector attached a large energy cell.
"What. On Earth. Is that thing?" Adam asked slowly as he stared at the bizarre device.
"This? Is a Space-Time Transition Gateway," Phineas said proudly. "You may also call it a Wormhole Generator," he offered generously.
"Does it even work? Have you even tested it?" Adam asked.
Phineas had an awkward look on his aged countenance as he said, "No… not yet. This is just a prototype to put through its paces. I merely wanted you here to help observe the device and see if you had any helpful suggestions, and if something hostile should come through, I'd like your assistance at corralling it."
"In other words, you want me to kill whatever comes out if anything does try to take a chunk out of us," Adam deadpanned.
"Heh, I see your powers of observation are still with you, Captain Adam," Phineas said nervously.
"Sigh, let's just get this over with," Adam stated.
"Right! Time to scratch the paint on this thing!" Phineas said in eagerness. "Stand back! I need some space for this!" he explained as he aimed the device at an empty space of his lab. Standing beside the mad scientist behind the device, Adam waited with apprehension as Phineas powered up the device.
With a whining hum as power slowly built, the device began to whir and rattled steadily. Electric blue sparks flew out from the device as the hum of the device grew louder and louder before suddenly a bang erupted from the device and grey wisps of smoke floated out from the device.
"Well, that was enlightening," Adam said dryly.
"Hmm… must've made some error in my calculations," Phineas muttered as he began to examine his invention.
"Have you tried turning it off and on again?" Adam deadpanned.
"Oh, come now! That's ridiculous!" Phineas protested as he examined his device for any faults. "I've never heard of such a ludicrous thing! Turn it off and on again, indeed!" he scoffed. "If that's some kind of old joke, it's not very funny!"
Adam sighed as he found the off-on switch and flipped it to off then flipped it back on again. The device whirred to life, much to Phineas' surprise and he looked at Adam who gave him a shit-eating grin. The scientist glared at the captain who shrugged his shoulders.
The device hummed and whirred before suddenly a beam of bright blue light shot out from the projector and hit the lab wall. Then with a great ripping, tearing sound, a wormhole opened, growing larger.
"Well, it seemed it worked," Phineas said in relief and the Captain opened his mouth to say something when the air suddenly began to howl as the wormhole started to suck everything in, like a powerful vacuum.
Adam gave a grunt as he felt himself being sucked in and he shouted, his voice nearly drowned out by the roaring wind. "Phineas! Shut this thing down!" he bllowed.
"I'm trying!" Phineas hollered as he worked as fast as he could to turn the device and the aged scientist felt himself being lifted into the air. With a yelp, the old man latched himself onto the bench and held for dear life, trying to reach the projector.
Adam dug his heels in as he felt himself being sucked into the wormhole. Pulling out his Ionised Paper Knife and igniting the plasma aether, Adam stabbed the prongs into the floor to anchor himself and held on like grim death.
Bu the wormhole seemed to suck everything in and Adam gave a yell of frustration and fear as he felt himself be pulled free from his bindings and was sucked into the wormhole and into darkness.
"Adam!" Phineas yelled in dismay before the wormhole sealed itself after Adam.
…
Adam felt himself floating through a void and everywhere he looked, there was nothing but darkness.
"So… this is how it ends, huh?" he asked himself dryly before he gave a sigh. "Well, at least I did some good. I left the colony in good hands. Can't ask for more than that," he said.
"I wonder what happens now? Will I just float here aimlessly, going mad until I just stop thinking at all?" he then wondered aloud. "Hell, would I even get to meet whatever fucked deity created the universe in the first place here?" he mused.
Then a deep comforting voice announced itself to the Captain.
"Captain Adams of the Lost Hope…"
"Who said that? Who's there?" Adam called out uncertainly.
"I have watched you for some time," said the mysterious voice and fading into existence was a tall man wearing a long blue cloak and fedora hat on his head. His hat concealed his eyes, but a calm regal smile was on his lips.
"Who… who are you? Are you… God?" Adam asked apprehensively.
"Let's just say I'm a friend of God," the mysterious stranger replied. "I've watched you with great interest as you were awakened from cryo-sleep and how you helped save your colony from falling into ruin," he said.
"Well, if I wasn't gonna do it, then who would?" Adam snapped out irately.
An amused smile graced the phantasmal man's lips before he said, "Precisely why I took an interest in you, Captain Adam. You could've used your position to wreak havoc all across Halcyon, but you chose not to. You could've walked away, but you didn't. When you were great wealth to destroy all your good work, you refused."
"Sorry, I don't do autographs if that's what you're after," Adam said dryly. "So, mind telling me where here is? And how I can get back home?" he then asked engagingly.
"I could send you home," the stranger said as if giving it some thought. "But, you are needed elsewhere," he added.
"What? Another colony has gone and fucked things up for itself?" Adam deadpanned. "I've done it once, but I'mma have to pass this time. I've got my hands full already running one colony," he said.
The stranger smiled before waving his hand and suddenly Adam felt himself falling through a void of light.
Falling down to an asphalt covered floor, Adam almost landed headfirst, but luckily landed on his chest and stomach. Thankfully, his armour took the brunt of the impact, but it still drove the wind out of him.
Rolling over onto his back, Adam took in a lungful of air and got his breath back and slowly sat up. His bones creaked and ached as he sat up and looked around.
"Okay, question: where am I?" he asked as he looked at his surroundings. His first thought was that he was somewhere in Byzantium or even Steller Bay as the smell of decaying refuse hit his nostrils.
"Well, it doesn't look like I'm in Stellar Bay. No smell of saltuna or sulfur, for one thing," Adam remarked to himself as he slowly stood up. Taking his assault rifle, Medal of Honour, the Captain checked the magazine and nodded in satisfaction that the magazine was fully loaded before he clipped it back into the gun.
"Okay, get the lay of the land. Find out where I am, then find a way to contact the others," he said to himself as he set out of the alleyway at a steady jog.
…
In a different universe.
Emma Frost sprinted as fast as she could to where the battle against the Phoenix Force was taking place. All the while she cursed the Inner Circle for deceiving her and she cursed herself for being so naive for believing Shaw that the intention was to destroy the Phoenix Force.
All those months ago, she had infiltrated the X-Men by offering to use her telepathy with access to Cerebro to find the missing members of the X-Men, including their mentor Charles Xavier. Xavier was currently in a coma, but telepathically contacted them from a dark future warning them that if they did not reunite to stop what was coming, then all of mutant and humankind would be driven to near extinction by the Sentinel menace.
The reason the X-Men had disbanded was because of Emma herself when she and the Inner Circle had tried to kidnap Jean Grey, the host of the Phoenix, and the first thing they did was to take out Xavier himself. But the Phoenix within Jean had reacted causing a massive explosion that had destroyed the Xavier Institute with Xavier and Jean going missing and disbanding of the X-Men.
But as Senator Kelly and the MRD (Mutant Registration Division) started arresting non-mutants for helping mutants, Logan AKA the Wolverine had reunited the X-Men. Emma had shown up not long after trading her telepathy for a spot on the team and helped them find Charles.
After that it was a whirlwind of activity as the X-Men with help from Xavier sending them telepathic messages from the future fought against Senator Kelly and the MRD, Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants, clashing with Mr Sinister and his Marauders, all the while trying to find Jean. And find Jean they did, but that was when Emma and the Inner Circle moved in to take Jean for themselves.
What happened next Emma would regret to the day she died. Although she had not said it out loud, she had become emotionally attached to the X-Men, finding a place among them and working with them, so it broke her heart a little that she had lied and betrayed them to capture Jean. But that was when she had though the Inner Circle's plan was to destroy the Phoenix that lay withing Jean. Emma then felt shocked and betrayed when Shaw revealed to her that the plan was to use the Phoenix for their own ends & assert their dominance over the world. But Shaw and the Inner Circle had gravely miscalculated the raw power and untameable nature of the Phoenix. Once the Phoenix had been freed, it had turned on everyone, broke loose and was now laying waste to the world in search of its true host, Jean Grey.
It had been a desperate plea from Emma to Wolverine to cut her loose so that she could fix what was her mistake. And luckily for Emma, Logan had put aside his anger at her betrayal to free her and she was not going to miss this chance.
Sprinting as fast as she could, Emma passed the unconscious forms of the X-Men who had tried to fight the Phoenix Force, only to fail. Up ahead, Emma saw Scott Summer AKA Cyclops try to rescue Jean from being taken by the Phoenix.
Scott…
It was a bitter sting to the heart, like salt poured over a fresh wound that Emma had lied to Scott and used him. And deep down, it stung even more to see how he pined for Jean when she had been presumed missing or even dead. Emma had to privately admit that when she offered to erase Scott's memories of Jean when he had thought about quitting the X-Men due to it affecting his performance that it was partly because of her own attraction to the man that if she removed his memories of Jean, he would then take notice of her.
Emma could now see the Phoenix Force swooping down towards Cyclops who tried to fire another optic blast the cosmic entity in a bid to stop it, only to slammed by the cosmic flames of the entity and be sent skidding across the ground. Emma ran as fast as her legs could carry her just as the Phoenix made to take another divebomb at Scott.
Getting front of Scott, Emma stood before him protectively. The Phoenix's cosmic energies then flowed into Emma and the Stepford Cuckoos who had been made hosts were sent flying to the ground in unconscious heaps.
Emma gasped as she could feel the sheer power of the Phoenix inside struggling to get free. Shifting into her diamond form, Emma heard Scott's worried query.
"Emma?!" Emma looked at Scott and waved a hand at him.
"Get… Jean… out of here, Scott!" she ordered as she clutched her midriff at the sheer pain the Phoenix was inflicting on her. In her diamond form, Emma would normally not feel pain, nor have the need to eat, drink, sleep or even age. But the cosmic energies of the Phoenix were quickly proving to Emma that she could still feel pain in her diamond form. "I'm not sure how long I can contain it!" Emma then said.
"What are you gonna do?" Scott asked as he made to help Emma to her feet.
"Try… to release it!" Emma said through strained gasps of pain.
Scott made to walk towards when Logan got in his way pushing him back. "Summers! She knows what she's doing! Now, let's go!" the Canadian mutant said to him as he pushed the man over to Jean who was watching helplessly.
Emma stood to her feet and to her horror, she could see large splintering cracks in her diamond form.
'This is it,' Emma thought to herself in her mind. 'My final atonement or my punishment for all that I've done in life'
"Emma!?" Scott called out to her.
Emma looked at Scott one final time as the power of the Phoenix finally began to break her apart. In the quite literal sense as cracks that glowed with bright white light streaked across Emma's diamond form.
"Scott? Forgive me…" Emma said in a soft pleading voice before finally her world went blank as her diamond form shattered into hundreds of pieces and the Phoenix Force was sent into the upper atmosphere where it dissipated harmlessly having no host to attach itself to.
…
When Emma came to, she realised that she was in a white field that seemed to stretch on forever. Looking around, she remembered with a start what had just happened. The stabbing pains of the Phoenix Force breaking her body apart came back to Emma and she clutched her body in pain, falling to her knees, gasping and panting through the pain. Soon the pain subsided to more manageable levels and Emma shakily stood to her feet.
It was then Emma looked at her surroundings. She wondered if she was perhaps in the Astral Realm. Possible, given her powers of telepathy and the power of the Phoenix Force itself. But as she looked around, Emma was starting to think she had landed somewhere else.
Then a soft light shone before Emma and a dark silhouette stepped out from the golden light. And coming into view was a tall man wearing a long blue cloak and a fedora hat on his head concealing half his face and he then walked towards Emma. The blonde telepath then saw the glowing blue-white eyes underneath the hat of the man walking towards her.
"Greetings, Emma Frost," the man said in a calm soothing voice.
"Wh-Who are you? Where am I?" Emma asked as she tried not to exhibit any weakness.
"I am a friend," the man said in a calm voice. "As to where you are, you are currently in limbo."
"Limbo…? Am I… dead?" Emma asked in horror.
"You're dead, but not quite," the stranger said with a calm smile.
"So, could I go back then?" Emma asked hopefully.
"You could, but you are needed for something else," the phantom replied.
"If you're looking for sexual favours, then I'm not interested," Emma said coldly.
"I have no need or desire for sexual favours," the stranger said with a dignified expression. "To tell the truth, your time on your world is over and I have watched you for some considerable time," he explained
"What do you mean my time on my world is over? Where is this even going?" Emma asked as she was in no mood for philosophical discussions.
"There are many worlds, many facets of reality. Some so similar you could spend a lifetime trying to find a single difference, yet others are so vastly different, one could say that they are in no way similar at all," the phantasm said as if ignoring Emma's queries. "I have seen many realities, and some are going headlong into danger, which is where you come in, Ms Frost," he added.
"What are you suggesting?" Emma asked cautiously.
"I have seen your history and your actions in your world," the phantasmal man said looking at Emma calmly. "The actions you took were of an evil nature, but ultimately in the end, you sacrificed yourself to save everyone. I have a hope that perhaps you may wish to atone for all that you've done in your life by helping to save another world that is in danger," he explained
"What kind of danger?" Emma asked warily, feeling unsure if she was ready to dive headfirst into another apocalyptic scenario.
"Another individual, from a different universe, much like you are, has a great destiny ahead of him. I have saved him from falling forever into darkness and put him on a path that will lead him to a crossroads. Although it is ultimately his own choice to make, perhaps you could help him decide what choices to make and perhaps atone for what you have done in your own world," the phantom offered
"And if I don't want to?" Emma said playing Devil's Advocate.
"Then you may remain here to contemplate your life choices," the ghostly being replied calmly and little windows appeared all around Emma and she realised that all the windows showed snippets of her life and the choices she had made. A crestfallen look came over Emma's face as she saw that many of the windows showed memories of all the less than respectable choices she had made and the harm that she done.
"What's the catch? What do you get out of this?" Emma then asked looking at the stranger who offered her what could be a devil's bargain.
The stranger gave a mysterious smile and replied, "The satisfaction of doing some good in the world."
Emma then thought about it, and she looked at the windows of some of the worst moments in the history of her life. She could stay here and wallow in her guilt about everything she had done, or she could live again and perhaps make up for what she had done.
Emma looked at the Beyonder and nodded at him. "I accept your offer, Mr…?" she trailed off.
"I am called by many names, Ms Frost. To most, I am called the Phantom Stranger," the ghostly being replied.
Before Emma could even open her mouth to asked another question, the Phantom Stranger touched her on the shoulder and her world went black.
TO BE CONTINUED…
A/N: There! First chapter of this is done and dusted! I hope you all enjoyed this new Justice League of Amazons crossover, this time with The Outer Worlds game. Betcha never saw it coming, or even think it was possible, huh?
In any case, I've set up a romance poll on my profile for this story, so feel free to cast your vote and if this picks up, I may just continue it.
And that's about all I have right now, so I'll leave this here and see you all in the next one.
Be kind to one another,
Angry lil' elf.